Cavs lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The final score was 107-104, but it felt like we got blown out by 40. This was probably our worst game of the season, at least out of the games where we were overall healthy. Putting this into words isn't going to be easy, my mind is still in shambles after watching that disgrace of a basketball game.
We finished with 19 turnovers to the Wolves' 8 and made 4 threes to the Wolves' 16. In the first half we were scoring well, but made only 1 three out of 5 attempts. There were 5 players today alone that made more threes than the whole Cavs' roster. Drummond looked good to start, proving to be flat out too much for Ed Davis to handle, having 16 and 11 on 7/9 shooting by halftime. Overall, everyone at that point was having their way with the Wolves' defense when it came to actually putting the ball in the basket, shooting 59.5% from the field as a team.
However, simply looking at a box score won't tell you how poorly we played. The first half was good from a scoring standpoint, but that's where the positives ended. I'm going to attribute that more to poor defense from the Wolves more than anything, especially considering how Ed Davis made Andre Drummond look like prime Shaq.
I've had enough of JB Bickerstaff. I've had my gripes about him all season, but tonight was the final straw. He has been misutilizing players all year and tonight was the biggest example. At least for the Knicks game you can say we played a good defensive team, but the Wolves are a pitiful team as a whole. I don't think I saw Larry Nance take a single step outside the three point line all game. The result was horrific spacing that had catastrophic effects.
His entire offensive scheme is horrible. Everything about it screams he has no idea what he's doing. It's gotten to the point where I genuinely believe I could produce a significantly better offense than JB and I'm a 19 year old with zero coaching experience at any level. Just a quick list of all the issues I have with his offense:
- Lack of spacing, specifically not telling Nance to spot up full time
- Doesn't even give guards a chance to take pullup threes, which they're good at
- Misutilization of Garland
- Postups
- Nance pick and rolls when he's playing with a center
- Encouraging Javale to "freelance"
- Useless offensive sets with players just running around the center doing nothing productive
- Playing 2-big lineups
- Last in the league in 3pt attempt rate
His offense is so bad that when I watch other teams like the Jazz play, it actually causes me pain. Their offense is perfectly suited for the modern NBA. It's so simple and easy, yet JB can't wrap his mind around the idea of spacing and spread pick and roll and three pointers. And the worst part is that we have the personnel to pull it off, too. About the only thing I think needs to change from a roster standpoint is that we need another ballhandler/scorer. I put together a trade that I think could solve a lot of our problems unrelated to coaching.
The trade is pretty straightforward, Mavs are struggling badly and need to take a swing. I don't think Drummond is very good but whatever, maybe the Mavs think he is. Cedi also leaves, but the big haul is Norman Powell. Powell is a great scorer that can shoot and drive with the best. Overall, he just produces efficient shots and is great at converting them into points. He's a phenomenal shooter and finisher at the basket and can defend too. He'd be a great 6th man on this team.
If I was in charge of rebuilding this offense, I'd base it overwhelmingly around spread pick and roll with Sexland and Powell. I'd stagger minutes so the backcourt is always 2 of Garland, Sexton, and Powell, so I always have 2 players that can execute those PnR's, followed up by the forwards being full time spot up shooters. There would obviously be some variance, with double pindowns for shooters, double screens out top for the ballhandler with one roller and one popper, and some flare screens. Essentially it would model the Jazz offense as best as possible. Also the screen placement on ball screens would be higher so it actually gives the ballhandler the opportunity to take a pullup three. The fact that Garland and Sexton are taking as few threes as they are should be a crime. Every time they turn the corner on a screen they're already inside the three point line and it's so frustrating to watch. Garland specifically suffers the most from it because he's so much better from deep than he is in the paint yet every time he comes around a screen he doesn't even get a chance to take a three.
I haven't fully decided yet if I would want an actual backup center or just make Love or Nance the backup center. The biggest upside to having Nance or Love play the 5 is that they both can space the floor, so I would be able to run 5-out. That way it opens up the paint even more and I can play around with some Sexland isos and allow them to use their speed to blow by defenders and then have no one left at the basket to challenge them. It just produces easy efficient points when the offense is stalling. The problem comes on defense, where I don't know if that'll hold up with the lack of rim protection. If the defense can't handle it, I can just expand the trade to send James Johnson to Memphis in exchange for Gorgui Dieng, who is a normal center defensively but can also shoot threes well enough to run 5-out. I also would still be shopping Love constantly but the offense has been so bad that he deserves a chance at least.
For most of the season I have been putting up with Coach Bickerstaff because of the defense and how well that has been since he took over, but after seeing the defense begin to slip and the loss to the Timberwolves, the offensive shortcomings are too much to ignore. He simply has no idea how to produce efficient offense, and this team will never reach their potential under his coaching. He's holding them back and needs to go. Before, I suggested Jazz assistant Sergi Oliva, but that was to be an assistant coach who took control of the offense. At this point we need a completely new head coach. I don't know who that is right now, maybe Mike D'antoni would leave Brooklyn for another head coaching job. I would certainly love that hire.
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